These chapters keep rising up like the undead! Sure you could say enough is enough, but with the fourth chapter of Red Harvest available at StarWars.com are you really going to complain? (OK some of you can; in a minute Schreiber won’t have much of a book left to sell. Or will he? Hit the Jump to read more.)

The first three chapters followed characters introduced in chapter one, but chapter four introduces even more new characters, some Bounty Hunters from off world even. It would seem clear the choice to give out the first four chapters plus the excerpt in theDeath Trooperspaperback, was a way to give readers a taste of the large cast we can expect to see in this horror novel. And why not? It makes sense in a way, a sick, twisted, kind of way. A large cast allows for a lot of deaths. And in a book where everyone will most likely be coming back to life, we might not be seeing “too much” with these free chapters, even now.

We’re introduced to Frode, a man working the maintenance shift at the Sith Temple, and Lord Scabrous’s HK Droid. With the arrival of two bounty hunters; a man named Dranok, and a Nelvaanian named Skarl things get moving. Lets take a moment here- remember Nelvaanians from the Gendy Clone Wars television series?- how creepy can this character get in Shreiber’s hands? And speaking of in someone’s hands: Lord Scabrous! In his hands lie the secrets to everything going on in the Sith Academy, but it seems he’s missing something. A rare ingredient. Scabrous’s personality description is like Demagol unleashed, what Demagol would have been like had he been a Sith and not a Mandalorian mad scientist. Scabrous brings fear to new levels and whole new meanings. This is one Sith Lord you’re better not knowing.

Once more Joe Shreiber’s descriptions of the minor things seem to have the most lasting impact. He captures Sith architecture and design almost fluently. You feel like you’ve entered a planet akin to Ziost, and the chill you feel is both from the imagined cold, and that which goes bump in the night. Or that which rise up from being killed before your eyes. (We’re talking a Zombie novel here after all.) Shreiber’s choice in design of the Sith Academy makes sense, in both terms of mood, and setting. When Sith hits the fan in this book, you can bet the picture Shreiber has painted of the Academy’s structure in these chapters will play a bigger role then these characters will. Sure one or two might be our lead, but who knows, it’s a whole new genre here within the Star Wars EU.

About the Author

Mark Hurliman is a writer and news reporter for EUCantina. He joined the website in 2010, around the same time that he became a host of our official podcast, EUCast. Mark's status as a "defender of the EU" has made him a popular guest on various Star Wars podcasts. He lives in Oregon with his wife and two children.
Mark's favorite Star Wars novel is Star by Star, but he has had the pleasure of reading nearly every existing Star Wars novel or comic.